The Fear
by DavidAlatriste
Summary: What happened inside Korra's head after thr fight with the Red Lotus


I'm the manager of the Ember Island Eel Hounds and this is my submission for Round 6

Manager: Your character experiences their fear for the first time. Prompts: (word) sweating (1 point), (dialogue) "Is this how it's going to be from now on?" (2 points),(quote) "To him who is in fear everything rustles." - Sophocles (3 points). Round element: Blood

Word Count: 874

Korra could vaguely remember how she got out of the cave the Red Lotus had her in. She remembered flying and going after Zaheer, she remembered some kind of whirlwind and her father's face, but it was all behind a sort of fog. Where she was now and what had happened to Zaheer and to herself were a mystery to her. All she could feel now were her wet feet, like she was standing in a lake. A very shallow lake without even the faintest of breezes. Korra felt the liquid and yet did not feel the familiar comfort that came with being in contact with her element. She had her feet ankle-deep in some sort of vast shallow ocean, crowned by mist that shrouded everything beyond a few meters in front of her.

Before she could take it in fully the water rose in front of her, forming into a spike that took shape. Korra's blood went cold as it became more defined: it was her, but it wasn't her. She was in the Avatar State and the chains the Red Lotus had used on her where still attached.

Korra turned around to run but the doppelganger's chain whistled in the air, wrapping itself around her arm and holding her in place. The grip of the chain was so strong that Korra thought it would surely snap her arm in two like a little twig.

Heart pounding, Korra tried to melt the chain, but as soon as she raised her arm a second chain ensnared it. The chains held Korra down and became even tighter, like they had minds of their own. They forced her to kneel, pulling her straining muscles into obedience.

As she knelt, Korra saw the surroundings change. Her muscles were no longer her own, spasming unnaturally against her will. She was sent back in time to when Amon took her bending, the man in the white mask gloated, victorious. She could feel his grip as he bloodbent her, her spine twisting as he took her bending.

As he removed her hand from her forehead she plunged into darkness. , and she felt the most awful thing she had ever endured: Vaatuu's dark hold on her during Harmonic Convergence as Raava was ripped out of her. Vaatu held her under the swirling purple sky, ripping out Raava, ripping out her very essence. The hole in her chest deepened at each strike as he destroyed her connection to her past lives.

The chain materialized again. She was being raised from the ground as the surroundings changed once more. Now she was at that cave, that awful cave with the Red Lotus symbol on the wall behind her. The chains melted, turning into silvery death.

Once again that feeling of being skinned alive as the poison made its way to her blood stream through her skin. Once again the hallucinations of Amon, Unalaq and Vaatu taunting her, telling her she was worthless. She could feel the poison moving through her veins, creeping ever closer to her heart. She couldn't breathe…

She was back at the pond where she woke up, on her knees. It was over, she was safe now. But she could see through her peripheral vision there was something in front of her. She raised her head to look at it. The doppelganger's ghostly white eyes stared back.

She screamed at the top of her lungs. She was in a bed, sweating cold, her pajamas soaked. Was she awake this time? Or were the Red Lotus about to storm in to capture her? The door burst open, a dark figure grabbing her.

"Please, no more!" she shrieked.

She tried to struggle, but the figure was stronger.

"Just let me die…" she whimpered.

"It was just a dream," said the figure, hugging her.

"Tenzin?" Korra asked weakly.

"You're safe now," said Tenzin.

"Is this how it's going to be from now on?, said Korra. "Will I keep remembering every painful moment I've ever felt forever? Can you make it stop?"

Tenzin started to rock her and gently passed his fingers over her back. At first she was starteld, but then she let herself feel the warm touch. "To him who is in fear everything rustles," Tenzin said softly in her ear. "You must be brave, Korra, and you'll see how everything will be okay."

"I don't think I can," Korra whispered.

"Remember the time Amon captured you in Memorial Island?" said Tenzin. "It was a horrifying experience, but you overcame it."

"This is different," said Korra. "This is so much worse."

"Then you'll have to be that much braver," said Tenzin. "Just remember you are surrounded by people who love you."

As Korra sobbed she knew that was a lie. As long as she lived she would remember the terror and the fear, all cycling one after the other in an apparently endless circle, never leaving her alone. She feared sleep, as now it did not give her rest but nightmares that refused to leave her. Zaheer may have not won, but he had done something no one else had ever achieved. She was broken, shattered, unable to sleep, unable to dream, all she could do was feel helpless and afraid.


End file.
